Excitement Abounds

     The first time I’ve been to Rehoboth was around the age of 5, maybe even 7. I was with one of my older cousins, David, whom of which is a sports addict. I stayed in a room with three beds, two of which were occupied by David and Johnathan, my younger cousin. The condo we stayed at is owned by my mother’s side of the family, bought by some of the funds the family corporation made when dealing with house-making and real estate. The people that were at the condo were my parents, four of my cousins (David’s two sisters slept on the couch), their parents, and my mother’s grandpa and grandma. My mom and her sister would take David and I every day to the beach, where the sand scorched your feet and the sea bit your bones. But the great thing about each summer of going to the beach was that while the sand prepared your feet by searing it with heat for the icy water, the sun would also warm you up rather quickly. Of course, it was still awfully cold. This was at time where I didn’t know how to swim, but I stayed afloat with a boogie board that had the design of Uroboros on it. We were on a sandy hill in the water, where the tips of my toes would almost be able to touch the tip of it. Thankfully, my mother held onto me as we would let the waves carry us up and down. My mom would say “Whoop…!” in a playful manner, of course, when we were being picked up by the wave onto the apex. Then she would finish off with saying “dee-doo!” when the wave passed and crashed along the shore a few yards behind us. David and his mother would ride the waves, but I was too scared to do that. We would head up at around 20 minutes to 12 to shower and get changed into some nice summer clothes. This usually consisted of a pair of shorts I got when my parents and I were in Firenza, Italia, sandals from a shop in Amsterdam, and a blue T-shirt. After getting all dressed and washed, we would sit down in the open kitchen and eat sandwiches. 

Usually in the afternoon, everyone would go do their own thing, or go rent bicycles (one time, it was even a 4-seater!) and ride them in the local neighborhood because of the smooth pavement, beautiful houses, and the trees that formed an arch over the sky. This was probably the most memorable of them all. My father and I took a walk around on the boardwalk. We walked at his pace, which is my pace today, but he doesn’t walk as fast anymore. We stopped by at a shop called ‘Grotto’s Pizza’. The pizza there is really great, despite needing to take a few more extra napkins. We saw an arcade called Funland in big, neon, multi-colored letters. The majority of the games in there were ticket dispensers, and I wasn’t too fond of those. But then we got to Playland (Same big, neon, multi-colored letters) and all the games were video games. There was a skeleton shocking game which I still don’t understand the purpose for on the right of the entrance. Three DDR machines were in a row on the left behind my most favorite game ever created by Sega: The Ocean Hunter. We spent about $25.00 on beating that game, and both of us loved it. It was a game that took place in the 7 seas, (probably of which are also fictional) where two bounty hunters whose names were Torel and Chris. It was set in a alternate Steampunk world where giant monsters from the ocean were terrorizing natives, wildlife, and anything else that they felt like ruining. This was the ironic thing about this game that happened in nearly every level: I was scared of pictures and videos of a shark opening its mouth. It’s like a giant maw of razor edged teeth that will just bite through anything. Here’s where it gets more frightening for me: On the 2nd level is the 2nd big boss, called the Leviathan. It was a Megalodon, and boy was it mad. It gets real up close to you and opens its mouth to devour you, but you have to keep shooting down its throat to make it go away. But you have to shoot really fast, because every pause that occurs, it gets closer and closer, bringing its massive jaws closer to you. We beat it, of course, just like all the other bosses and mini-bosses. After around an hour or so, which was the amount of time to beat the game, we started walking slowly back to the condo. Enjoying the nice, warm breeze and hearing the click-clack of the feet against the wooden boardwalk, and the sun was sinking into the ocean with the purple haze clouds pushing it into submission. We stopped by at an Italian ice shop, where we both got big cups full of lemon and lime Italian ice.